This newsletter has an article on ‘the new landscape’ for 14-19 plus information on the latest information publications from Bournemouth & Poole 14-19 Team and the Post-16 Summer conference – have you booked your place yet?

Flyer for Provider event 1 

Provider event for professionals working within Bournemouth and Poole  offering information, advice and guidance to young people aged 16-19 on Further Education, Careers, Apprenticeships etc.

Latest 14-19 Newsletter

Click here to read the latest newsletter from the 14-19 Team.  (This is a .pdf document so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see it).

This edition of the newsletter features articles on;

• One Community
• Poole Youth Conference
• Bournemouth & Poole College STEM Centre
• Apprenticeship news
• Development of employability skills – Poole

and more.

The festive season is almost upon us and the team send season’s greetings and best wishes for a happy new year.

Click here to view the newsletter (this is a .pdf document so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see it).

The first newsletter for the 2012/13 academic year offers a summary of changes that are likely to affect Bournemouth and Poole providers and young people.

Also in the newsletter are results of the 14-19 Team RPA projects.

This edition of the newsletter features information on;

• CEIAG provision offered by Bournemouth and Poole councils
• Changes to education in the area
• Introducing the Youth Contract
• RPA project outcomes
• Loss of specialist provision as Nacro closes
• New area prospectus launched
• Opportunities for late enrolment in post-16 provision

Taking a bit of time to consider your career options whilst you’re still in education can make a big difference in the long run. The 14-19 Team have trawled the internet for the most helpful and informative sites so that you don’t have to!

Have you had any ideas on a career path you would like to take? Do you know which courses you’d need to study to get the job you want? If the answer’s “no” then don’t worry – there is plenty of support at hand to help you out.

How do you decide on the option that’s best for you?

1. Start from the end: Choose a few jobs you would be interested in doing and then research what it would take to get the job. The National Careers Service website offers a very good job profiles section that gives details on hundreds of careers, including responsibilities, how much pay you can expect and the qualifications you’d need to be able to get a job in the industry. We had a more in depth look at the site when it was launched in April 2012.

2. Think about your interests: Sometimes a keen interest or hobby can be a good starting point for talking or thinking about a career path. Why not check out what activities and clubs you might be able to join locally? (Before you visit or give your details to anyone, make sure that they can be trusted. It might be worth taking a friend or parent along until you feel comfortable!) We also run a series called ‘Get Involved’ which lists some of the events and competitions that may be of interest to you.

3. Consider all the options: There are a wide range of careers and a number of ways to work towards them. Challenge stereotypes – why can’t a girl be a mechanic? Why can’t a boy work in health and beauty? (Answer: they can!!)

4. Talk about it with someone: Whether it is a parent, friend, teacher or careers advisor, having another person’s point of view can really help you to come up with ideas you hadn’t thought of. What jobs have they had? Would they recommend them to you? Careers advisors in Bournemouth and Poole also have a lot of knowledge about different options so might be able to suggest things you didn’t even know existed! Don’t be afraid to start the conversation or ask for help.

5.  Get out there!: Visiting open days and events are often the best way to know whether you’ll like a place. There are also careers fairs that you can visit and ask questions to employers at (The Daily Echo usually holds 2 fairs a year). Speaking to a professional may give you an insight of an industry you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.

More articles on careers.

When choosing your education, there are 2 main things to consider. Firstly, the subjects you are interested in studying and secondly, the type of qualification you want to take. You’ll know by now that from 2013, young people will be expected to stay in education up to the age of 17 and from 2015, this will increase to 18. Be prepared by knowing what the options are!

Did you know that once you finish Year 11, you have a number of different options available to you? This section of Which Way? tells you what these options are, giving you the low-down on apprenticeships and A-Levels and the things to consider when choosing the course you want to do. Staying in education doesn’t mean staying in school!

What should you think about when choosing a course?

1. Is there a particular qualification you need to work in the industry you are interested in?: Some jobs will require you to have completed a course before they will consider your application. Visit the job profiles section of the National Careers Service website if you’ve got a particular job or industry in mind.

2. Find out what courses are available in the subject you are interested in: Can you do an A-Level or is there a BTEC or apprenticeship? You need to know where you can study the subject you are interested in, so visit the Looking Ahead website to search for providers offering the subject in Bournemouth and Poole.

3. What grades are you expected to get in the courses you are doing now?: It may be that the course you are interested in doing requires you to achieve certain grades before you can enrol. Check out the course’s entry requirements. If it looks as though you aren’t going to achieve what is needed to get on the course, you may need to choose another qualification type, or work a lot harder! (That said, if you didn’t achieve the grade you needed, speak to teachers or careers advisors about the possibility of a retake or other options).

4. What kind of learner are you?: Did you know that there are said to be 3 types of learner; visual, auditory and kinaesthetic?

• Visual learners tend to learn best from demonstrations and diagrams.
• Auditory learners take on information from listening to explanation.
• Kinaesthetic learners prefer experiencing something hands-on.

Have a think about how the different qualifications would suit your particular learning style.

5. Consider whether there are any issues that may affect your success in achieving the course you want to do: An issue could be transport to a place of study, the teaching style of the course and how it fits with your learning style, the learning environment or even your own motivation. Thinking about these things before you start can ensure that you are prepared to stick with the whole course. To help you think about these things, read up on the course, visit open days and speak to careers advisors. They all can help you to make the most of your education.

You may have questions you need answering before you can make a decision on the course you want to do or the place you want to study. Sometimes getting an answer is as easy as typing it into Google and clicking ‘search’! However, if that doesn’t work then there are other organisations and handy websites that should be able to help you out.

Helpful people to support you through careers and education decisions

Parents and family are often the people who know you best. If you need help with deciding what is best for you, a second opinion from someone who knows you well can help you organise your thoughts.

Teachers are a good place to get advice on a particular subject you might be interested in studying. If you have a careers co-ordinator or student support officer in your school, speak to them – they can be very helpful when trying to understand career paths and have a good knowledge of the various options available to you.

Other young people will be able to give you their opinion based on their own experiences. It could be particularly useful if you manage to speak to someone who is already doing the course you are interested in or studying in the place where you are thinking about going.

School, college or training providers that you may be interested in going are best placed to answer questions on their facilities and courses. Get in touch as usually they are more than happy to chat to you about the good points about studying with them. Also find out whether they have any open days or chances for you to visit and get a look at a place yourself.

Youth workers are often trained to be aware of the opportunities available to you, and if they don’t know, they usually know someone who does! Find out where your nearest youth centre is and the evenings that you can go along to.

Careers advisors for young people in Bournemouth and Poole

For young people living in Bournemouth, Bournemouth Connexions are at hand to offer advice on education, employment or training. Advisors can be contacted in a number of ways:

• Visit Sussed Youth Advice Centre, 1442a Wimborne Road, Kinson or Fusion Youth Centre, 4-6 Old Christchurch Lane, Bournemouth on Tuesday and Thursday, from 2pm to 5pm.
• Phone 01202 451100 to arrange an appointment with an advisor at Bournemouth Learning Centre, Ensbury Avenue, Slades Farm.
• Email your question to connexions@bournemouth.gov.uk .

For young people living in Poole, the Connexions service ends in September 2012. A new service will be launched and will continue to offer advice on work and learning. Once the details have been decided, we’ll let you know how to get in touch.

Useful websites

Looking Ahead (www.lookingahead.info) is a list of all the courses available across Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset. Useful for finding out where you can do a course you might be interested in or which providers are near you. The website is sometimes called the local ‘area prospectus’.

National Careers Service (nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk) is great starting place for thinking about careers that you might be interested in. The website has a really good Job Profiles section where you can look up a job you might be interested in to find out what would be involved. Also worth a look are the Careers Tools, including the handy CV Builder where you can use a template to start putting together a CV from scratch.

National Apprenticeship Service (www.apprenticeships.org.uk) is the place for just about everything you’d need to know about apprenticeships, including what different subjects there are, how much an apprentice gets paid and vacancies you can apply for.

Transition Information Network (www.transitioninfonetwork.org.uk) aims to offer information to parents about the transition process for young people with special educational needs. It’s a useful resource to get a better understanding of the some of the processes that take place to support young people with learning difficulties or disabilities.

Have you got advice from any of the above people or websites? Are there any that you use that you can recommend to others? Add your suggestions to the comments box below.

What are the big issues to look out for?

1. Raising the Participation Age (or RPA as it is sometimes known) is the legislation that says that from 2013, young people need to stay in some form of education or training until the end of the academic year in which they reach 17. From 2015, increases to 18. Know the options available to you at the end of Year 11 by visiting the Education section of this site.

2. GCSE reform is being discussed by the Government. This means that in the next few years, GCSEs may be replaced with another qualification in schools across the country. This could affect lots of things from the way they are taught to the number of exams you have. No decisions have been made yet, but the change is an important one to be aware of.

3. Changes to Connexions mean a change in the support available to you. The services now provided are different in Bournemouth and Poole, so the place to go to get information, advice and guidance will depend on where you live. Bournemouth Connexions has been up and running since April 2012 and Poole are soon to announce the support they are going to offer.

Click here to view the newsletter (this is a .pdf document so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see it).

This, the final newsleter for the 2011/12 academic year, reflects on the year that has past and the end of the Diploma for Bournemouth and Poole.

Also in the newsletter are reports on some of the employability skills activity taking place locally, and how apprenticeship opportunities continue to grow.

This edition of the newsletter features information on;

• A year of change and the end of Diplomas
• One Community project in Boscombe
• Inspiring the Future encouraging schools to register
• Over 500 learners attend Careers College
• School Retail Group take over shop in Poole
• The Promise made to Bournemouth’s Looked After Children
• Apprenticeships at the Borough of Poole

The latest edition of the 14-19 Team newsletter is now online.

Click here to view the newsletter (this is a .pdf document so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see it).

In the newsletter there’s more on last year’s best ever results achieved by the area’s 19 year olds. Let’s hope that all those currently hard at work undertaking their exams will continue this trend.

Also in the newsletter is more on the Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole jobs without training project. The 14-19 Team worked with Dorset County Council and the Dorset and Somerset Training Provider’s Network (DSTPN for short!) to develop a project to support employers in providing accredited training in their workplaces for the young people they employ. In the area, there is currently a lot of 16 to 18 year olds working but currently not receiving accredited training. Find out more about this project in the newsletter!

This edition of the newsletter features information on;

• Best ever results achieved by area’s 19 year olds.
• Supporting employers to reduce problem of jobs without training
• Change of duties for schools and academies in providing careers guidence.
• Nacro’s fantastic media suite and cafe is opened!